Complete HarpWeek Explanation:James Blaine, a former speaker of the house and senator from Maine, had been an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1876 and 1880. He served briefly (March-December 1881) as secretary of state under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur. As early as 1882, an erroneous rumor circulated claiming that Blaine and Logan had agreed that whichever one had more support would challenge Arthur for the Republican nomination two years later. If it was Logan, then he would name Blaine as secretary of state. In the early months of 1884, there was further speculation that Blaine would remain in retirement and not seek the nomination.

This Thomas Nast cartoon responds to rumors that Blaine "leans toward" the nomination of Senator John Logan of Illinois. Convinced that Blaine had ulterior motives, the artist depicts a scene on the White House portico in 1885. Having been renamed secretary of state (which some thought was his real ambition), Blaine "leans toward" a frowning President Logan, tied up in taffy, in order to push his fellow Republican off the side of the White House and become the real power in the new administration. Blaine and Logan both, in fact, ended up on the 1884 Republican ticket, with Blaine in the top spot.